Old world, new sounds (for Lorna Goodison)

Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge!

Under the calm sky of early evening
before an audience of attentive locals,
you spoke of the drums beating in a circle
in an attempt to build a rhythmic centre
in a far away abode where bush medicine rules
and a new science as old as time heals.

The new reggae sounds
of an old African world lingered
in the background of this your home
made into a far away place you visit now
ever so often; disrupted your delivery,
ignoring your old craft
for new rhythms of tones pulsing
in the present, spiraling in the sky
like African locusts
disrupting the calm sky
while you spoke of the drums
beating in a circle.

Written by Nicholas Alexander

<----> SEND THIS POEM TO A FRIEND! <---->